Automatic and manual carbon dioxide fire extinguishing system including selector valve



Patented} Dec. 10, 1935 v STATES PATENT OFFICE AUTOMATIC AND MANUAL CARBON DIOX- IDE FIRE EXTINGUISHING SYSTEM IN- CLUDING SELECTOR VALVE Application July 1, 1929, Serial No. 375,032 6 Claims. (01. 169-11) Our invention relates to a system for supplying a fire extinguishing medium to a compartment or room where there is a fire.

In this art, it is common practice to provide a source of fire extinguishing medium, such as CO2 or any inert gas, and means, such as piping, for supplying the inert gas, when released, to a room. Where there is a plurality of rooms, the usual practice is to provide a separate system for each room.

An object of our invention is to provide a systemfor protecting a plurality of rooms in which a single source of fire extinguishing medium is connected to supply the several rooms.

Another object of our invention is to provide a system of this character in which the fire extinguishing medium may be selectively supplied to one or more rooms.

In our invention this object is accomplished by providing the system with a selector means interposed in the system between the source of fire extinguishing medium and the rooms.

A further object of our invention is to provide a system in which the fire extinguishing medium is released and the selector means is operated by the same controlling means.

This object is accomplished by connecting the selector means and the source of supply to the controlling means. In the preferred form of our invention the operating means automatically op-.

erates the selector means to permit fire extinguishing medium to be supplied to one or more rooms, and releases the fire extinguishing medium from the source of supply.

A further object of our invention is to provide a system in which a predetermined temperature in one of the rooms operates the selector means and releases the fire extinguishing medium so that the fire extinguishing medium passes only to the room where the fire is present.

A still further object of our invention is to provide a system which may be manuaily operated.

Further objects of invention will appear hereinafter.

In the accompanying drawings, in which we have shown a preferred form of our invention,-

Fig. 1 is a view showing the arrangement of the apparatus of the fire extinguishing system of our invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional View taken on the line 2--2 of Fig. 1 showing the releasing device of our invention.

Fig. 3 is a partial sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view taken onthe line 4-4 of Fig. 1, showing the selector valve of our invention.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken on the line 5-5 of Fig. 4. 5 In Fig. 1 of the drawings, we have shown a plurality of adjacent enclosures or rooms H, I2 and I3 which are to be protected by a fire extinguishing system of our invention. Only three enclosures are shown, but additional enclosures 10 may be protected in a similar manner to those shown. I A supply of fire extinguishing gas or fluid such as CO2 for extinguishing a fire in the enclosures is supplied under pressure in one or more bottle- 15 Y shaped containers which may be disposed at a point remote from the enclosures, individual containers being designated as containers I5, "3, I1, I l8, l9 and 20. Releasing means or control heads 22, 23, 24, 25, 2B, and 21 are supplied with the 20 containers for releasing the gas therefrom, each of the containers being supplied with one of the heads; for example, the container i5 is equipped with head-22, the container I6 with head 23, etc.

The heads on the containers are similar to the 25 head shown in our co-pending application entitled Non-stalling self-energizing head for puncturing closure disc, Serial No. 349,150, filed v March 22, 1929. We have shown the details of one of the heads, head 22, in Figs. 2 and 3 for 80 completeness, it being understood that all of the heads are similar to the one described. The container IE to which the head is secured has an outlet opening- 30 through an upper tapered portion 3! thereof, the opening 30 being closed by 35 a penetrable diaphragm 32 secured in place by a I plug 33 having a central opening 34 therethrough. There is also a relief port 30a leading outwardly from the opening 30 below the diaphragm 32, which port is normally closed by a safety disk 40 32a, the purpose of which will be explained hereinafter. Threadedly secured to the upper portion 3! of the container H) by a union 35 is the head 22 which is composed of a body 31 having wa ls which form a cylinder 38. 45 Slidahly positioned in the cylinder 38 is a piston 50 having a depending hollow pin 4|, the lower edges of which are sharpenedand positioned in the opening 34 so that a downward movement of the piston 40 moves the edges of the 80 pin, i! downwardly and causes the pin 4| to penetrate the diaphragm 32 so as to release a fiuid from the container l5.

A central opening M in the piston 40 communicates with an opening in the interior of 66 secured in the walls of'the body 31.

the pin 4|, and communicates with a space 46 above the piston 40 by means of openings 41 formed through the walls of the piston 40. A ball valve 48 is disposed in the opening 44 and permits passage of a fluid upward through the opening 45 to the space 46- but checks a reverse flow. Communicating with the space 46 is a discharge end 50 of an explosive plug 5| which is threadedly The explosive plug 5| has a charge of powder or otherexplosive material on the interior thereof which is ignited when electric power is supplied thereto. As best shown in Figs. 1 and 3, a discharge pipe 53 which is threaded in an opening in the body 31 opposite the explosive plug 5| is connected to a header pipe 54 and permitsa fluid to pass from the space 46 to the header pipe 54. An interconnecting pipe 56 having an end threaded in the body 31 at right angles to the pipe 53 has an opposite end threaded in. the head 23 adjacent the head 22 and permits communicationpbetween the space ,46 in the head 22 with a similar space in the head. A pipe 51 threaded in the body 31 opposite the pipe 56 is connected to other apparatusas will be described laterand is for the purpose of introducing a fluid to the space 46.

Secured to the piston 40 is a vertical rod 58 which is slidable in an opening 66 formed'in the body 31 and hasa manual operating handle 60 at the upper end thereof. Between the handle 60 and the body 31 is a spring 6| for normally maintaining the piston 40 in raised position.

The releasing head 22 of our invention is operated to release a fluid from the container I6 when the piston 40 is moved downward. This' may be done manually by moving the handle 60 downward or by creating a gas pressure in the space 46 through the explosion of the explosive plug 5| or by introducing a gas through the pipes 53, 56, or 51. The gas is restrained from passing downward through the opening 45 by the ball valve 48 and the pressure thereof moves the piston 40 downward and causes the lower sharpened edges of the pin 4| to pierce the diaphragm 32. This releases 'the gas from the container I5 which gas passes upward through the openings 30 and 45, around the ball valve 48, through the openings 44 and 41 to the space 46'whence it may pass out through thepipes 53, 56 or 51.

As best shown in Fig. 1, the heads 23, 24, 25,

26 and 21 are respectively interconnected by interconnecting pipes 63, 64, and 66 in amanner similar to that in which head 22 is connected to head 23, thus permitting communication between space 46 in the head 22 and similar spaces in the other heads. It should be noted that the interconnecting of the heads permits afluid released from one of the heads to pass to the other heads and operate these heads. Discharge pipes 68, 69, I0, 'II and I2 of the heads 23, 24, 25, 26 and 21 respectively are connected to the header pipe 54 and permit fiuid from the containers to pass to the header pipe 54, which pipe extends from a position adjacent the containers to a position adjacent the enclosures II, I2 and I3.

Branching from the header pipe 54 are branch pipes I4, I5 and I6, supplied for the enclosures II, I2 and I3 respectively, and the discharge ends thereof being closed by selector valves 18, I9 and 80 respectively. Outlet pipes 82, 83 and 84 from the selector valves pass into the enclosures through the walls thereof, where they are provided with distributing pipes 86, 81 and 88 for distributing the fire extinguishing gas to the enclosures.

We have shown the details of the selector valve 18 in Figs. 4 and 5, it being understood that the construction of the other selector valve is similar to the selector valve I8 described. The selector valve I8 consists of a valve body 80 having an 5 interior opening 9| with which the branch pipe I4 and the outlet pipe 82 communicate. In the center'pf the opening 9| is positioned a wedgeshaped plug 94 which fits into a wedged-shaped opening formed in the walls of the valve body 90- 10 in such a way as when seated to close communication between the branch pipe 14 and the outlet pipe. 82. Formed in the valve body 90 above the plug 84 is a central opening 85 in which the plug 94 may be raised seats to permit communil6 cation between the branch pipe 14 and the outlet drical member 96 and has a piston I02 secured 25' thereto, which piston I02 is slidable in the cylinder |0| as the valve I8 is opened and closed. Threadedly secured to the upper end of the cy1-. indrical member 96 is a cap I03 which provides an opening through which the upper end of the 80 I rod I00 extends, the upper end of the rod I00 thereto; Communicating with a space I06 below the-piston I02 is an explosive plug I08 similar in construction to the explosive plug 5| of the 35 head 22, and the discharge end of a pipe I09 which is connected to other apparatus in a manner described later, and which is for the purpose of supplying a fluid to the space I08.

The selector valve 18 is opened by manually 40 raising the handle |04,or by creating a gas pressure in the space I06 by an explosion of the explosive plug I08 orby gas introduced. through the pipe I09. This causes the piston I02 to be raised, raising the plug 94 and opening communica- 45 tion between the branch pipes I4 and the outlet pipes 82. When one of the selector valves is opened, a fluid from the header pipe 54 may pass therethrough to one of the enclosures; .The selector valves thus form a means of selecting the 50 enclosure to which the gas is introduced.

In order to provide a means for controlling the operation ofthe heads and the selector va1ves,, we provide an automatic control system consisting of temperature-responsive elements or ther- 55 mostats H2, H3 and H4, one of the thermostats being placed in each of the enclosures II,

, and I23 which respectively connect the battery 8 to similar explosive plugs I25 and I26 on heads 23 and 24. The explosive plug I08 of the selector valve'l8 is connected in parallel with the explosive plug 5| by wires I21 and. I28 so that when the circuit .is completed from the battery I I8 both explosive plugs 5| and I08 will explode. Similar explosive plugs I30 and I3I on the selector valves 19 and 80 are connected in paralel with explosive plugs I25 and I26 by wires I32, I33, I34 and I35. Connected in shunt with the thermostat II2 by wires I38 and I39 is a manually operated switch I40, similar switches HI and I42 being respectively connected in shunt with thermostats H3 and H4 by wires I43, I44, I45 and I45.

The system is automatically operated when the temperature in one of the enclosures, for example, enclosure I I, exceeds a predetermined safe value. This causes the contacts of the thermostat II2 to close thus exploding the explosive plugs I08 and 5I which opens the selector valve 18 and operates the head 22 to release gas from the container I5. The gas from container I5 releases the gas in the other containers in a manner explained before, which gas passes to the header pipe 54, through the branch pipe 14, the selector valve 18 and the distributing pipes 06 to the enclosure. Since only the selector valve 18 is opened, the gas is not admitted to the enclosures I2 and I3.

To supplement the automatic system, we provide a manual control system which consists of a supply of gas under pressure which is furnished in a container I equipped with a manually releasable valve on head I 5|, which may be similar to the-heads already described if desired. The container I50 is placed at a convenient place, and a discharge outlet thereof is connected to the pipe 51 of the head 22. The pipe 51 is connected by pipes I 53, I54 and I55 to manually operable valves I51, I58 and I59, the valve I51 being con-, nected to the pipe I 09 of the selector valve 18 and similar pipes I and IGI connecting the valves I53 and I59 to selector valves 19 and 80 respectively.

When a fire occurs in an enclosure, as for example enclosure I I, the manual control system is operable by opening the valve I5I on the con-.-

tainer I50, thus releasing the gas therefrom, and.

by opening the valve I51 associated with the enclosure II in which the fire is located. The gas from the container I 50 passes through the pipe 51 to the head 22 where the pressure thereof releases the gas as has been previously described.

containers is thus admitted to the in a manner previously described.

The gas also passes through the pipe I53 and the valve I51 to the selector valve 18 where the pressure thereof opens the valve. Gas from the enclosure II It*should be noted that our fire extinguishing system may be operated by the automatic con- 'trol as explained before,

and may be operated manually in three ways. The first way of manually operating the system consists in depressing the operating handle on one of the heads and in raising the operating handle on one of the selector valves. The second way consists in opening the valve I5I on the container I50 and in opening one of the valves I51, I58 or I59. The third way consists in closing one of the switches I40, I4I or I42 which produces an operation similar to the automatic operation. All of these operations act to introduce the gas into the enclosure in which'the fire is located and to exclude it from all other enclosures.

The diaphragm 32 will withstand normal fluid pressures in the container, but the fluid pressure depends upon temperature and when exposed to high temperatures either due to abnormal weather conditions or to other causes, the fluid pressure would rise sufiiciently to burst the diaphragm. The fluid then rushing into the conduit 54, which is normally closed by the selector valves, would then subject said conduit to abnormal strain unless some relief were provided therefor. To avoid this danger we have provided the safety port 30:: which is closed by the disc 32a. The latter is designed to withstand normal fluid pressures in the container but will rupture at a predetermined pressure which is below the rupture point of the diaphragm 32. This permits the fluid to discharge into the open in case the pressure rises to an abnormal point and protects the closed conduit system from bursting and causing probably serious damage.

"It is obviously possible to make changes in our system without departing from the spirit of our invention, for example, it is possible to use a single selector valve with a plurality of enclosures and a single container in place of the plurality shown. These and other changes can be made without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim as our. invention:

1. In a fire extinguishing system, the combination with a plurality of enclosures, of a gas supply means, a conduit system for leading gas from the supply means to said enclosures, fluid pressure actuable primary release mearis for releasing said gas from the supply means into the conduit system, a fluid pressure actuable secondary release means for controlling the admittance of the gas from theconduit system into each of said enclosures, and control means for actuating the primary release means and coincidentally any or all of the secondary release means to admit the gas to one or more of said enclosures, the control means including a container carrying a fluid under pressure, and means for admitting fluid from the container to the primary release means and selectively to any of the secondary release means to operate the same.

2. In a fire extinguishing system the combination with a plurality of enclosures, of a container holding a fire extinguishing medium under pres- }.sure, a conduit system for leading said medium from the container to said enclosures, fluid pressure actuated primary release means for releasing said medium from the container into the conduit, a secondary release means for controlling the admittance of said medium from the conduit into each of said enclosures, and a control for coincidentally actuating said primary release means and any or all of said secondary release means whereby said fire extinguishing medium is admitted to one or more of said enclosures, the control means including an auxiliary container holding fire extinguishing medium under pressure, and means for conducting such fire extinguishing medium from the auxiliary container to one or more of the secondary release means and simultaneously to the primary release means to actuate the same and to be released together with the medium from the first named container into the. conduit system.

3. In a fire extinguishing system the combination with a plurality of enclosures of a plurality of containers each holding fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, a conduit system for leading said fluid from the containers to the enclosures, control means individual to each enclosure for controlling the admission of the fluid from the conduit into each of said enclosures, a fluid pressure actuated discharge head for each container adapted upon actuation to discharge fluid from the container into said conduit system, fluid conducting means interconnecting the heads whereby all of the heads will be actuated upon actuation of any one of them, there being tion of: a plurality of enclosures, a container holding a fire extinguishing medium under pressure, conduit means for leading fire extinguishing medium from said container to the enclosures, a primary release means for releasing said fire extinguishing medium into the conduit means, a fluid pressure actuated secondary release means for controlling the admittance of said fire extinguishing medium from theconduit means to each of said enclosures, a control for coincidentally actuating said primary release means and any or all of the secondary release means whereby said fire extinguishing medium is admitted to one or more of said enclosures, an additional control including an auxiliary container holding a fire extinguishing medium under pressure, and means for conducting the said medium from the auxiliary container selectively to one or more of the secondary release means to actuate the latter and to then be admitted into the enclosure or enclosures so selected.

5. In a fire extinguishing system, the combination of: a plurality of enclosures, a container holding a fireextinguishing medium under pressure, conduit means for leading the medium from said container to the enclosures, a fluid pressure actuated release means for releasing said medium into the conduit means, fluid pressure actuated selector means for controlling the admittance of said medium from the conduit means to said enclosures selectively, and a control for coincidentally actuating said release means and the selector means whereby said medium is admitted to one or more of said enclosures, said control comprising an auxiliary container holding a fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, and

means for conducting said fluid to said release means and selectively to the selector means to actuate the same and then be admitted into the enclosure or enclosures so selected.

6. In a fire extinguishing system, the combination of a plurality of enclosures, a container holding fire extinguishing medium under pressure, conduit means for leading the medium from said container to the enclosures, fluid pressure actuated primary means for releasing said medium from said a container into the conduit means, fluid pressure actuated secondary release means for controlling the admittance of said medium from the conduit to each or said enclosures, and a control for actuating said primary release means and any or all of said secondary release means whereby said medium is conducted to one or more of said enclosures, the control including an auxiliary container holding a fire extinguishing fluid under pressure, means for conducting a portion of said fluid to the primary release means to actuate the same and to then pass to the secondary release means, and means for conducting another portion of the fluid to the secondary release means to actuate the same and then be admitted to the enclosure or enclosures so selected.

' SCOTT E. ALLEN.

OZRO N. WISWELL. 

